Prison land swap not a secret
State law allows discussions of pending real estate transactions to be held secretly but doesn’t require it. The state prison land swap request is not a secret and should not be discussed in secret. The city is using its usual process, with the decision to be made by a city bureaucrat and rubber-stamped by the council before any public hearing where residents learn of a done deal. Instead, this item should be presented in public meetings before any council discussion, which might be helpful in getting the state to modify its plans.
How many state capital cities have such worthless land that the state prison is located there instead of elsewhere? Concord, New Hampshire, apparently. First the state needs to reduce the prison size by increasing the size of the Berlin prison or creating a new satellite prison in an economically depressed area such as Claremont where land is cheaper and staff easier to obtain. This would allow the closure of the worst section of the existing prison and reduce the need to acquire city land. Time could then be spent evaluating other sites in central New Hampshire including the military facility in Pembroke and the Sununu Youth Center. And any city signoff should include fair reimbursement for city services, such as 325% of Medicare rates for medical calls and state police detail rates for response by city police, which are rates set by the state after all.